***********************************************
WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Scientists
Call on Canadian Government to Protect Endangered Rainforest
***********************************************
Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
http://forests.org/
8/23/98
OVERVIEW
& COMMENTARY by EE
Canada
continues to sanction industrial logging of the relatively
small
remaining temperate rainforests found on their west coast. The
consequences
are severe, as numerous expert scientists make clear with
their
appeal to the Canadian government. If a
rich country like
Canada
can not forgo fleeting profits from liquidation of ecosystems
of
planetary importance, how in the hell can we expect nations wracked
by poverty
and need to do so? Only a global end to
industrial logging
of all
remaining ancient forests, and massive resource and technology
transfers
to countries most economically challenged to pursue such a
policy,
will suffice.
g.b.
*******************************
RELAYED
TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Scientists Call on Provincial and Federal
Gov'ts to Protect
Canada's Endangered Rainforest
Source: Greenpeace via econet
Status: Distribute freely accredited to source
Date: August 14, 1998
/**
gp.press: 86.0 **/
**
Topic: Scientists Call on Provinical and F **
**
Written 8:53 PM Aug 14, 1998 by nobody@xs2.greenpeace.org in
cdp:gp.press
**
From:
"greenbase" <greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org>
Subject:
Scientists Call on Provinical and Federal Gov'ts to Protect
Cana
SCIENTISTS
CALL ON PROVINCIAL AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENTS TO PROTECT
CANADA'S
ENDANGERED RAINFOREST A moratorium on remaining intact
rainforest
valleys necessary for species survival
(Vancouver,
British Columbia) Thursday, August 14, 1998 - Today
Greenpeace
released a letter signed by more than forty scientists
internationally
urging Prime Minister Jean Chretien and B.C. Premier
Glen
Clark to stop any further incursions into the remaining intact
valleys
of Canada's endangered temperate rainforest on the coast of
British
Columbia.
The
group of scientists includes renowned conservation biologist Dr.
Michael
Soule, founder of the Society for Conservation Biology and
current
president of The Wildlands Project and noted B.C. scientists
Dr.
Nancy Turner from the University of Victoria School of
Environmental
Studies, Dr. Chris Pielou from the Clayoquot Sound
Science
Panel, Brisol Foster, former director of Sierra Club of B.C.
and Dr.
David Suzuki.
In the
letter scientists warn that current management of B.C.'s
ancient
rainforest is ignoring and sacrificing a wide range of present
and
future values and uses. The signatories are recommending that a
moratorium
be placed on all industrial logging and development in the
remaining
intact rainforest valleys.
Globally,
temperate rainforests are more endangered that tropical
rainforests.
Canada, Chile and Alaska are the only countries that
still
have large areas of contiguous temperate rainforest necessary to
preserve
the wealth of biodiversity this forest type contains.
The
majority of the remaining intact rainforest valleys in B.C. are
scheduled
to be logged or have roads built into them within the next 5
to 10
years, primarily by two logging companies, Western Forest
Products
and International Forest Products (Interfor).
Dr.
Soule said, "British Columbia, unlike my home state, still retains
its
great bears, its salmon and its wild heart. Its centre still
holds.
California's lesson is that once ecosystems are fragmented,
they
rarely recover."
A 1996
report issued by the B.C. Ministry of Environment indicated one
in 10
plant and animal species in B.C. are endangered or threatened
with
extinction. The greatest threat to species survival is loss of
habitat.
British Columbia's ancient rainforests are home to 70 per
cent of
Canada's species diversity. Greenpeace is calling on the B.C.
government
to enact endangered species legislation to protect Canada's
national
heritage.
The
failure of Premier Clark's government to protect endangered
ecosystems
and the species that depend on them is just one more
example
of the Premier's poor environmental performance record. "Since
Glen
Clark has been Premier, he has focused the efforts of his
government
on reducing what little environmental legislation remains
in this
province, in particular the Forest Practices Code," said
Greenpeace
Forests Campaigner Tamara Stark.
Recent
observations made by Canada's Commissioner of the Environment
and
Sustainable Development indicate that only half the species
thought
to exist in Canada have been named, and only one per cent of
those
have been studied. Few ecological studies and biological
inventories
have been conducted on B.C.'s ancient rainforest.
The
recent discovery of 300-500 new species of insects in the treetops
of
B.C.'s ancient rainforest by two University of Victoria
entomologists
has scientists worried that a lack of protection for
these
forests could result in a loss of species that could one day
prove
to be a cure for illness, among other things.
"It's
now or never to protect these areas because the best of them
will be
gone in a very few years," said Dr. Bristol Foster. The
diversity
of these forests rivals that of the tropical rainforest. We
probably
don't know half the number of species that reside in the
temperate
rainforest and yet we're destroying them before we know what
we're
loosing."
The
federal government's environmental performance record is just as
scathing
as B.C.'s. Prime Minister Jean Chretien has yet to follow
through
on commitments made at the 1992 United Nations Convention on
Biological
Diversity where Canada pledged to implement endangered
species
legislation.
Recently
the federal fisheries minister announced the closure of the
B.C.
coho salmon fishery because of risk of extinction to coho stocks.
At
least 142 stocks in B.C. and the Yukon are already extinct and 642
runs
are teetering on the brink of extinction. Habitat destruction
from
logging and other industrial activities are cited as major
contributing
factors.
Conservation
biologists are currently working in the Rivers Inlet area
of
B.C.'s coastal Great Bear Rainforest developing a conservation area
design
that, if applied, would result in a strong probability that the
biological
diversity of the area would be preserved for future
generations.
Dr. Soul will also be in the area to peer review the
conservation
design.
For
more information contact:
Tamara
Stark, Greenpeace Forests Campaigner or Alison Turner, Press
Officer
at (604) 253-7701.
Editor's
Notes:
Countries
of signatories to the letter include Canada, United States,
Germany,
UK, and the Netherlands.
Web
site: http://www.greenpeace.org
August
1998
Open
Letter to:
The
Right Honourable Jean Chretien
Prime
Minister of Canada
House
of Commons
Ottawa,
ON. Canada K1A 0A5
The
Honourabel Glen Clark
Premier
of British Columbia
Parliament
Buildings, Room 156
Victorial,
B.C. Canada V8V 1X4
Letter
regarding the future of the temperate rainforest of British
Columbia.
Globally,
temperate rainforests are a rare and endangered forest type,
originally
covering less than 0.2 per cent of the earth's land surface
area. Over half of the world's temperate
rainforests have been
degraded
or destroyed, primarily by industrial logging during this
century.
One quarter of the remaining temperate rainforests are in
British
Columbia, Canada, where they are rapidly being clearcut and
replaced
by biologically simple tree farms, endangering the rich
biological
heritage they contain.
British
Columbia makes up less than 10 per cent of Canada's land mass
but is
home to 74 per cent of Canadian mammals and 70 per cent of its
breeding
birds. The majority of these species can be found in or
associated
with the temperate rainforest. Yet only now are basic
ecological
studies and biological inventories of the temperate
rainforest
being conducted.
The
State of the Environment Reporting office of British Columbia
reported
in 1996 that one in ten plant and animal species in B.C. is
facing
extinction. Logging is cited as one of the major causes of
species
decline. Recent satellite data reveals that over half of
B.C.'s
rainforests have already been destroyed or degraded. Less than
six per
cent of B.C.'s coastal rainforest has been protected.
Coastal
British Columbia originally had over 350 rainforest watersheds
over
5,000 hectares. Today, less than 70 (20 per cent) of these
valleys
remain intact, yet few are protected. Half of the remaining
intact,
unprotected valleys are slated for clearcut logging and
roading
in the next five years.
Recognising
the ecological importance of the rainforest of British
Columbia,
and the fact that current management is ignoring and
sacrificing
a wide range of present and future values and uses, we,
the
undersigned scientists and organisations recommend that the
Governments
of British Columbia and Canada take a precautionary
approach
to the management of the temperate rainforest, and apply a
moratorium
on industrial logging and development in the remaining
intact
rainforest valleys of British Columbia.
Signed,
Open
Letter Signatories
Dr.
Christoph Thies
Forests
Campaign Coordinator
Greenpeace
International
Amsterdam,
the Netherlands
Dr.
David Suzuki, Chairperson
David
Suzuki Foundation
Vancouver,
B.C.
Dr.
Richard Ring
Department
of Biology
University
of Victoria
Victoria,
B.C.
Dr.
Alan Burger
Department
of Biology
University
of Victoria
Victoria,
B.C.
Dr. E.
C. Pielou
University
of B.C.
Vancouver,
B.C.
(member
of Clayoquot Science Panel)
Dr.
Nancy J. Turner
School
of Environmental Studies
University
of Victoria
Victoria,
B.C.
(member
of Clayoquot Science Panel)
Dr. Tom
Reimchen
Biology
Department
University
of Victoria
Victoria,
B.C.
Dr.
Bristol Foster, Ecologist
Friends
of Ecological Reserves
Salt
Spring Island, B.C.
Dr.
Juan Ausio
Department
of Biochemistry & Microbiology
University
of Victoria
Victoria,
B.C.
Dr.
Robert C. Brown
Department
of Geography
Simon
Fraser University
Burnaby,
B.C.
Dr.
Stephen Herrero
Department
of Environmental Design
University
of Calgary
Calgary,
Alta
Dr.
Brian Horesji
Department
of Biology
University
of Calgary
Calgary,
Alta
Dr.
Eric Fawcett, Professor Emeritus
Physics
Department, University of Toronto
Toronto,
ON
Dr.
Martin Willison
Biology
and Environmental Studies
Dalhousie
University
Halifax,
NS
Dr.
James Karr
Department
of Fisheries and Zoology
University
of Washington
Seattle,
WA
Dr.
David R. Montgomery
Department
of Geological Sciences
University
of Washington
Seattle,
WA
Dr.
Elliott A. Norse, President
Marine
Conservation Biology Institute
Redmond,
WA
Dr.
Dennis Paulson, Director
Slater
Museum of Natural History
University
of Puget Sound
Tacoma,
WA
Dr.
Robert Michael Pyle
Writer
and Biologist
Gray's
River, WA
Dr.
Dave Augeri
Institute
of Rockies
Missoula,
MT
Dr.
Barrie Gilbert
Department
of Fisheries and Wildlife
Utah
State University
Logan,
Utah
Anne E.
Black, Ph.D. Candidate
Landscape
Dynamics Lab
Department
of Forest Resources
University
of Idaho
Moscow,
ID
Dr.
William A. Calder
Professor
of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University
of Arizona.
Tuscon,
AZ
Dr.
Lance Craighead
Department
of Biology
Montana
State University
Bozeman,
MN
Dr.
Gordon Brent Ingram
University
of California at Berkeley
Berkeley,
CA
Dr.
John Schoen
Alaska
State Office
National
Audobon Society
Alaska
Dr.
M.A. Sanjayan
Conservation
Biologist
University
of California
Santa
Cruz, CA
Dr.
Barbara Dugleby
Wildlands
Ecologist
Wildlands
Project
Tuscon,
AZ
Dr.
Dominick A DellaSala
Director
of Forest Conservation
World
Wildlife Fund USA
Dr.
Michael Soule
Research
Professor in Environmental Studies,
Co-Founder,
Society for Conservation Biology
University
of California
Santa
Cruz, CA
Dr.
Richard Brewer, Professor Emeritus
Dept.
of Biological Sciences
Western
Michigan University
Kalamazoo,
MI
Dr.
Steven H. Rogstad, Associate Professor
Biological
Sciences ML6
University
of Cincinnati
Cincinnati,
OH
Dr.
Gary K. Meffe, Ph.D.
Professor,
and Incoming Editor
Conservation
Biology
Savannah
River Ecology Lab, Drawer E
Aiken,
SC
Dr.
Irwin Guttman
Department
of Statistics
SUNY at
Buffalo (CA citizen)
Buffalo,
NY
Dr.
Philip K. Stoddard
Department
of Biological Sciences
Florida
International University
Miami,
FL
Dr Roy
Johnston, IMS Clara House
Glenageary
Park Co.
Dublin,
Ireland
Dr.
David Packham
B.Sc.
and Ph.D. in Chemistry
Director
of Studies for the B.Sc. in Natural Sciences.
Senior
Lecturer in Materials Science, University of Bath
Bath,
UK
Dr.
Christian Taylor, postgraduate student
School
of Biology and Biochemistry
University
of Bath
Bath,
UK
Dr
Philip Webber (Chair)
Scientists
for Global Responsibility (UK)
Dr. Ben
Matthews, Researcher (CO2 air-ocean flux)
School
of Environmental Sciences
University
of East Anglia
Norwich,
UK
Dr.
Peter Sollich, Department of Physics
University
of Edinburgh
Edinburgh,
UK
Dr. M.
Phil. (Cambridge 1992)
Ph.D.
(Edinburgh 1995)
Graduate
Member of Institute of Physics
Dr.
Marcus Stewen
Department
of Law and Economics
J.-Gutenberg
University
Mainz,
Germany
###RELAYED
TEXT ENDS###
This
document is a PHOTOCOPY for educational, personal and non-
commercial
use only. Recipients should seek
permission from the
source
for reprinting. All efforts are made to
provide accurate,
timely
pieces; though ultimate responsibility for verifying all
information
rests with the reader. Check out our
Gaia Forest
Conservation
Archives at URL= http://forests.org/
Networked
by Ecological Enterprises, gbarry@forests.org